Jarrod Bowen knows the secret of the current Hammers success and is actually taking it to a different level.
It’s well known that David Moyes is a Sergeant Major on the training ground and it’s that intensely hard training regime which is at the bottom of what’s going on within the squad.
Moyes demands the players run and run and run “until they can run no more” according to the winger who typifies the energy levels he requires.
Bowen’s out runs down the right when the team is under pressure at the back are a feature of the counter attacking prowess the team has developed since last season.
Bowen doesn’t leave it there either because his Dad is always looking out for him and whenever he returns home steps up an already fierce training ground regime.
And speaking to www.whufc.com at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2020/november/21-november/jarrod-bowen-we-work-hard-and-shows-pitch he explained how he works out on home visits.
He explained: “My uncle has a farm back home in Herefordshire and has a lot of land with different fields
“I don’t know much about farming, I’m probably the one in my family who doesn’t pay attention to the different seasons, but I know he has a potato field and when I went home in the off season this year my old man said you need to use this field for a bit of running and a bit of sprinting.
“The ground is so much different, it’s a bit like running on sand, but thicker and I found it rally good for the muscles and ankles, but also it’s really tough to do the training on. You feel so slow, but then when you go running on the grass you feel like a sprinter.
”It’s just been my training method for the past three or four years, with my old man. He is pretty old school and he doesn’t just want me running around a normal field doing football runs, he wants me in the potato field with weights on my arms.
“It’s different methods that he wants to do with me because I’m really focused on my football and he’s always looking out for me. I’ve done it for the past four off-seasons and have felt really fit coming into pre-season each year.”
He added: “The Gaffer wants us to run until we can’t run any more. He doesn’t want us to have an easy day and that’s what we need.
“Since the games when we restarted after lockdown, that hunger, that desire has come through in our performances. It helped us get out of the relegation battle that we didn’t want to be in, and we’ve started this season like how we ended last year.
“We’ve put the two together and started strongly with the fixtures we’ve had.
“The manager’s been really good since I’ve joined, speaking to me about all sorts of things. What I need to improve on the pitch, or what I could do in the gym, what I could do in my spare time.
“To have the arm around your shoulder from the manager brings the best out of you.
“He said that when I joined, that he wants me to play. The way he’s been with me and dealt with me has been really key to how I’ve settled in.”